Websites
Small business start up information
1. Why does my small business need a website?
2. What benefits does a website provide?
3. What are the benefits of Online Marketing?
6. How do I get an email address?
8. Where do I go to register a domain name?
9. What does a domain name cost?
10. Is a domain name all I need to publish my website online?
11. How do I build my website.
12. Do I need a shopping cart?
13. How does a shopping cart work?
14. What sort of security do I need for a shopping cart?
15. How do I process credit card payments
16. What does it cost to have merchant facilities?
17. What if my bank won’t provide me with merchant facilities?
18. Where can I find out more information about creating a website?
1. Why does my small business need a website?
Not every business requires an on line presence. You will require a website if your selling online or it forms an intergral part of your marketing strategy.
2. What benefits does a website provide?
It allows you to:
- Increase product awareness
- Communicate with customers more effectively and efficiently
- To sell goods and services to global markets
- To generate and qualify leads
- Improve customer service
- Gather feedback, on your business, product or service
- Decrease cost of sales, support, marketing, and training
- Expand distribution channels
3. What are the benefits of Online Marketing?
Extensive customers reach.
The Internet is global, reaching millions of people of every age, nationality, and profession.
Interaction.
Forms, e-mail, and surveys will let your visitors interact with your website, helping you build customer databases and user profiles and also help you customize offers.
Flexibility.
Unlike printed materials, it's easy to change information online. You can test your marketing efforts, prices, and all at the click of a button.
Automation.
Automating sales, marketing, or support processes can save your business valuable resources.
Cost Effective Promotion.
You can also promote your company online through Web advertising, publicity, newsgroups, bloggs and e-mail newsletters.
4. Do I need a computer?
Yes, whilst you don’t need to be hooked up to the Internet 24 hours a day in order to have a website, you still need a computer to answer emails.
5. What is an email address
An email address will allow you to communicate on line with the outside world. With an email address you can send emails to your customers, clients, suppliers, and anyone else you do business with or who wants to do business with you and has a recipirorical email address.
6. How do I get an email address?
1.Accept an address that forms part of your Internet Service Provider's (ISP) name – i.e.lucymcgoo@bigpond.com, Bigpond being the name of my ISP. This a cheaper option, however it does link you to your ISP, and may not appear as professional.
2.Use one of the free services of www.hotmail.com, or www.yahoo.com. You can select your own name, however it will end in “yahoo.com” or “hotmail.com”. Again this will appear slightly less professional.
3.Register your own domain name and have your ISP establish an email address using that name i.e. info@showmummythemoney.com.au
Option 3 is more expensive than option 1 and 2 but it offers a more professional impression by giving your business a presence on the web. Another advantage is you can maintain the email address irrespective of which ISP you are with, allowing you the option to change ISP’s.
7. Registering a Domain Name?
Before you can publish a website and or create your own “business” email address as discussed in option 3 above, you will need to register a domain name. A domain name is the unique address that identifies the location of a website on the internet. i.e. www.showmummythemoney.com.au, is my domain name. Domain names should contain the name of a business, and can end in .com, .com.au, .net.au, org.au.
Registering a domain name gives you a licence to use the selected name for a specified period of time, subject to the terms and conditions defined by the registrar.
8. Where do I go to register a domain name?
A good place to start is to check if the name you require is not already taken, you can do this by visiting the Australian Registry. You can register and pay for a domain name by visiting the website of an accredited registrar or reseller. There are tonnes of registrars, to find one go to the Australian Domain Name Adminstrator (ADNA), and click the tab on the menu bar, .au Registrars. The ADNA is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space and has been formally endorsed by the Australian Government as the appropriate body to administer the .au domain space.
9. What does a domain name cost?
The cost of registering a domain name will vary depending on:
- The type of domain you choose i.e .com.au or .com or both
- The registration period
- The services included with your registration
Please be sure to read the terms and conditions offered as these will vary between registrars and resellers.
10. Is a domain name all I need to publish my website online?
Unfortunately you also need to acquire the services of a hosting provider, many ISP provide this service as well. A host provides you with a place to store your site. It is different to an Internet provider – an Internet provider will allow you to surf the net, receive and send emails whereas a host allows you to upload your site to the Internet so all can access it.
Again there are a range of host providers each with differing services, packages, pricing and features – you do need to take time to read the fine print and compare the suitability of the host to your needs. For example you will need to ensure the hosting service caters for the potential size of your site. A site is measured in terms of megabytes, and is affected by the needs of the web site such as the level of traffic visiting the site.
11. How do I build my website.
There are two options
Option One - Use a Professional:
You can employ the services of a website designer, such as web2grow . Many website designers will package up their services by offering to register your domain name, set up your email addresses, secure the services of a host provider, and finally build the site. In essence they do the lot. This option is naturally more expensive however it does take a lot of the pain experienced from DIY or ...
Option Two - Build your site yourself (DIY):
There are a number of different ways to build a website:
1. Use a software package:
Websites can be designed with a range of different software products such as “Dream Weaver”. You may wish to surf the net to find “free” software to use to build your website.
2. You could use a pre designed and formatted template.
There are many on line stores selling an array of website templates. You can also down load free templates at www.freelayouts.com.
3. Use the services of an ISP who provides a total on line solution:
There are some hosting providers who even supply website templates, shopping carts and many other applications to help their customers build a fully functional website, all as apart of their hosting fee. This is a fantastic option if you are interested in setting up your own site on a budget, check out www.webhostingsolutions.com.au. However you may still need some sort of software to use the template. Check with the template provider first.
www.volusion.com a US based company who also offer a similar service, plus their templates are already search engine optimised SEO. (SEO is one means to get your site ranked highest in a search engine request).
12. Do I need a shopping cart?
If you are using your site to sell products or services, you will need to incorporate a shopping cart into your site. You can purchase the rights to use a shopping cart by buying the licence for the shopping cart software for example Uniwin , sell licences to their shopping cart software. There are many other shopping cart providers - you can Google the phrase “shopping cart providers” to see the extensive number of providers. You do need to do your research on which shopping cart is best for your business. Each provider will have software with different features and benefits so please be sure your business needs are suited to the selected software. You can purchase the right to use the shopping cart software for a certain period of time and renew as time elapses.
13. How does a shopping cart work?
The shopping cart operates by allowing the customer to visit your site and purchase. The owner of the site has the ability to access the orders placed by customers from another external site. Sites with a shopping cart facility have two sites, one for the customer to place the sale, the actual site visible to the customer and another site for the site owner to assess the sales and process the orders, this secure site is only visible and accesible to the site owner.
When deciding on a shopping cart provider – be sure the facility provided is secure.
14. What sort of security do I need for a shopping cart?
It is important to ensure your site is secure, particularly if customers are providing credit card details on line. In some cases you may need to purchase an SSL certificate to ensure you have a secure site for taking credit card payments. The SSL certificate allows your site to display the “padlock” which appears on secure sites in the top right hand corner. It provides the necessary encryptions required to make your site secure. You can google the term SSL certificate and find a number of providers, please note some shopping cart software providers and merchant facilitators will offer the SSL certificate as apart of their package. Make sure you read the fine print and don’t unnecessarily purchase a certificate.
15. How do I process credit card payments
If you are selling products and services on line you will need to organise a means to take credit card payments. I would suggest you visit your bank and discuss what options they have available. Some banks actually provide the necessary security to your site so you won’t need to purchase the SSL certificate as mentioned above. Some banks for example such as Westpac provide a business solution called “Web Advantage”. This is a product which interfaces with the shopping cart on your site, the customer effectively makes a purchase on your site using a credit card, the credit card is automatically processed by Westpac, without the business owner doing a thing. The funds from sales are automatically deposited into the bank account and the business owner is alerted to which orders to fulfil.
16. What does it cost to have merchant facilities?
It is important to consult with the merchant facility department of your bank, since all banks differ in what they are able to offer and charge. Some factors you need to take into account:
- What are the transaction costs per sale – this is usually calculated based on per sale i.e. some banks will charge .20 -.50 cents for each sale deposited into your account.
- What are the merchant facilities rates?, some banks will charge between 1.7-2% per sale for using the banks merchant facilities – processing the sale onto the customer’s credit card.
- Are there any minimum monthly fees for the provision of the merchant facilities?
- What are the establishment fees? It can cost up to $600.00 to establish the merchant facility however bare in mind it is usually the IT department of the bank who are responsible for intergrating the merchant facilities to the site. So your “start up fee” is paying for a worthy service.
- What are the cancellation fees, if you decided you longer require the banks merchant facilities?
- What is the process for charge backs – where a customer disputes the credit card transaction processed on their credit card.
17. What if my bank won’t provide me with merchant facilities?
All is not lossed if you can’t secure merchant facilities from your bank – you can opt to use PayPal. Simply go to www.paypal.com.au and click on the “merchant” tab. PayPal merchant facilities operate in the same manner as those facilities offered by the large banks. You will need to obtain certification – however this is really about verifying who you are, your address and so forth. You can also tailor the PayPal facilities to your site; there is a comprehensive manual (you can access this once your identity has been verified). The manual explains all sorts of tips and tricks on how you can best incorporate PayPal into your site. It is free to register with PayPal charges apply based on the sales processed by PayPal on your behalf. One major drawback to using PayPal, is customers are redirected to the Paypal website during the checkout process as opposed to staying on YOUR website the entire time.
18. Where can I find out more information about creating a website?
E-Business Guide or check out the contacts listed in our resource centre
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